Page 62 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom
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Content and Language Integrated Learning



                       Content              Communication
               Exploring the stages of a plant’s  Vocabulary related to plants
                life, including seed, sprout,  (e.g., seed, root, stem, leaves).
                 mature plant, and flower.  Basic sentence structures (It
               Learning about the basic needs  needs/grows/has ...).
                of plants, such as sunlight,  Scaffolding language by using
                    water, and soil.       visuals, flashcards,
                                             and gestures.
                                  Topic: Plant
                                  Life-Cycle
                      Cognition                Culture
                  Predicting the stages  Comparing the growth of plants
                     of a plant’s life.  in different environments.
                 Putting the stages in the  Discussing different gardening
                      right order.            practices.       Figure 3.3
              Observing the growth of a plant                  Applying the Four CLIL
                   and documenting                             Elements in the 1st Grade
                     the changes.                              (based on the framework
                                                               of Coyle et al., 2010)




                  room, including their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. By incorporating
                  cultural elements into CLIL lessons, teachers develop pupils’ ability to com-
                  municate effectively in a culturally diverse world and deepen their under-
                  standing of both language and content in a meaningful context. Griva and
                  Chostelidou (2017) argue that CLIL students show a higher level of cultural
                  awareness, and consequently, openness to other cultures, and a higher ca-
                  pacity for critical thinking.
                    Figure3.3presentsan exampleofhowtheframework ofthe4Csdeveloped
                  by Coyle et al. (2010) may be applied to a lesson with YLs.


                  Teachers and YLs in CLIL Classes
                  Teaching in CLIL classes places high demands and expectations on teachers.
                  They need to master the subject curriculum area and be proficient in an FL,
                  includingtherelevant subject terminology.Accordingto theEurydiceReport
                  (2017, p. 14), in ‘15 education systems, teachers are required to have additional
                  qualifications to teach in CLIL type of provision. In most cases, a particular
                  language proficiency level is required – usually B2 or C1 levels of the CEFR
                  (2011).’ In addition, teaching a curriculum subject through an FL requires the
                  teacher to have special teaching competences. This may mean that teach-
                  ers need to step out of their teaching comfort zones, characteristic of FLT
                  contexts, and try new approaches based on the integrated curriculum (Skela


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